ARTS RESEARCH IN THE NEWS

A new article in CityLab reported on China’s stricter rules regarding maps, both print and online.

The article included a quote from Tim Brook, a professor of Chinese history at UBC.

“Regimes that are anxious about their legitimacy fetishize the signs of legitimacy,” Brook said.”So one of the signs of legitimacy is a map–there you are one color, your borders are all drawn properly and you look like a proper state.”

Huffington Post highlighted a recent study linking charitable spending to lower blood pressure.

“What we’ve found is some of the strongest evidence to date that spending money on others can lead to significant improvements in physical health,” said study author Ashley Whillans.

A Bloomberg article explored the passing of the era of the knowledge worker and the dawn of the “relationship worker” in light of the growing computerization of the economy.

The article cited a paper published in 2013 by UBC economists Paul Beaudry and David A. Green and Benjamin M. Sand of York University.  Beaudry, Green and Sand had noted the decline of jobs focused on cognitive tasks after two decades of growth.

Business leaders at the Paris climate talks announced their commitment to dealing with climate change and appear to be ahead of politicians in this respect, noted UBC sociology professor David Tindall in a Vancouver Observer op-ed.

“Many corporations now see runaway climate change as very bad for business, entailing unpredictable costs,” wrote Tindall. “Not only that, some see the transition to a green, decarbonized economy as a business opportunity — or even, in some cases, as a part of their social responsibility.”

UBC sociology professor David Tindall offered qualified praise for the Paris climate talks in an op-ed for the Victoria Times Colonist. Canada has succeeded in improving its image as a supporter of climate-change plans but now needs to buckle down and make those plans a reality, Tindall wrote.

“We have now found our geographical bearings. We know roughly, but not exactly, how to get to the meeting. But we are still late, and will have to figure out a way to increase our speed to our destination,” said Tindall.

UBC anthropology professor Wade Davis highlighted the importance of listening to indigenous community concerns in drawing up climate change policies.

“The voices of indigenous people matter because they can still remind us that there are indeed alternatives, other ways of orienting human beings in social, spiritual, and ecological space,” said Davis in a Q&A with the Huffington Post. “This is not to suggest naively that we abandon everything and attempt to mimic the ways of non-industrial societies, or that any culture be asked to forfeit its right to benefit from the genius of technology.”

Ann Makosinski, a student inventor who attends UBC, was profiled in articles in the Montreal Gazette, Calgary Herald, Edmonton Journal, Regina Leader Post, The Province, and Times Colonist.

Makosinski is in the Arts One survey course and a first-year chemistry course at UBC.

A new iPolitics article highlighted the government’s plan to change the way it estimates cost for Canada’s national shipbuilding procurement strategy. UBC professor Michael Byers, a Canadian defence policy specialist, criticised current cost estimates.

“My advice to the government would be to put the brakes on the whole thing and prepare for a tendered competition,” Byers said.

Research by UBC PhD student Ashley Whillans suggests that sharing the wealth boosts your mood and even lowers your blood pressure. In a Global News article, Whillans described her experiment with 128 people diagnosed with high blood pressure. The participants’ blood pressure levels were lower when they spent money on others.

Similar stories appeared in Huffington Post, Metro News and Vancity Buzz.

A few experts suggest ways of actually changing climate change policies in Canada. In a CBC article, UBC climatology professor Simon Donner urges people to write to their local MPs or city council members, saying “The more that your representatives hear about this, the more likely it is that … policies will be put in place.”

He also recommended eating less meat and shopping locally.

South Peace residents have volunteered to digitize records of the region to keep their history alive, according to Alaska Highway News.

An $8,000-plus grant from the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre at UBC assisted their efforts to set up this digital archive.